Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Long runnning movies

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Posted by Alex Grasic (Member # 1371) on 02-19-2003, 12:04 AM:

This post is specifically refering to this weeks opening of Gods & Generals. I've never really seen a movie that has a total run time of 4:15 until now. I was told that there will be an intermission after the 8th reel which I can only assume is approximately 2 hours into the feature. What would be the best idea for this break? Making up the print on one platter while just running an intermission cue for 10 minutes or making the print up as two prints allowing the machine to shutdown and have the bulb cool for 10 minutes? If I ran a continuous show, the machine would in essence be on for 4 hours. We had a problem earlier this year with our Lord of the Rings print; after about 2 1/2 hours, the heat coming from the bulb was so intense that the print started to 'burn'. I really don't want to see this happen with Gods & Generals. Should the bulb really be giving off this type of heat? Is it a better idea to shut down the machine or should it really not be an issue for this bulb to be burning for 4 hours and 15 minutes??

On the same topic, I have a Component Engineering TA-10 automation system. What affect does a double cue have on the system? Would our shutdown cue, once double cued do the opposite and reactivate the startup sequence?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 02-19-2003, 02:02 AM:

If the lamphouse is properly ventilated and the mirror aligned correctly, the projector should be able to run forever without inflicting heat damage on the film. If you are getting heat damage, then I'd guess that either the total airflow through the lamphouse is insufficient, that air isn't flowing past the right places, or that the mirror is wrongly focused causing intense localised heat in the gate area. Are all the extraction fans working OK?

Whether the audience could last for four and a half hours without a break is another question, though. My personal feeling is that a film significantly longer than three hours should have an intermission.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 02-19-2003, 02:03 AM:

what kind of bulb do you have? our 4k can run that long no prob.

we also have ta-10 automation. the second intermission cue will indeed restart the show. however you need to make sure there isn't anything programmed into the automation that should not happen at the start of the second half. for example, our automation will mute the sound (on the soundrack) for 7 seconds at startup, until the douser opens. this is a problem considering the intermission music presumably continues right up to the start of the 2nd half. i don't know if our tech will want to come in and re-wire the automation. he's probably the only one who could do it, since the wires are all unlabeled and the manual is, frankly, shit.

the smoothest way of doing it might be to forgo the intermission cues and do everything manually. my gut tells me there will be many sloppy intermissions, though.

ideas, anyone?

we don't have the same problem in our upstairs analog theaters. there, the mute is accomplished by shutting off the exciter (utility relay, i believe). so as long as someone manually switches on the exciter sometime during part 1 and switches it off sometime during part 2 (so the tail can't be heard going through), there's no problem. knock on wood and all that.

carl

Posted by Peter Kerchinsky (Member # 1098) on 02-19-2003, 04:47 AM:

Gentlemen:
We recieved a fax today from Warners saying they have incorporated an intermission into the film and it works this way:
About 4 minutes into the 8th reel there will be an intermission card, then blank film for about 12 minutes, then about 3 minutes 30 seconds of music alterting the audience the second half is to begin.
We also have a TA 10 and the only way we can run this according to WB is to have a lights up cue just before the intermission snipe, not a shutdown cue because we don't want the non snyc to come on, then just before the second half starts cue it for lights down from half. Simply, the film will never stop running for the entire four hours. I believe Bill and staff at CE have set up their TA 10s similar so you might want to run it this way.
If not it might not be a bad idea to contact either Bill or Don at CE and get their advise.
It's going to be an interesting Friday matinee with this. Oh, by the way, I sure hope the feature and trailers will fit on the AW3 table.
Lots of luck guys.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-19-2003, 01:32 PM:

If you are seeing progressively more heat damage to prints as the lamphouse runs several hours, I suspect that the lamphouse is not properly cooled. Remember, a metal mirror with a dichroic heat filter coated on it IS the heat sink for the infrared energy rejected by the dichroic heat filter. If it is not cooled properly, it may get so hot that it loses efficiency, and may actually start to emit infrared energy back toward the film. [Eek!]